# 24: by the window (Mako)
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When Bolin told her that they had great views from the attic, he wasn't kidding.
"This is more than great—it's amazing!" she cried out in astonishment, her blue eyes wide with delight. "You guys should've brought me up here earlier! This is a million times better than what I can see from the island!"
Mako had to stop himself from smiling along with her. He kept his lips in a straight line, showing that he was not amused by her appearance. "Korra, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I was at the tower and I was looking out and I saw the arena and I kind of wanted to go here?"
"Who let you in?"
"I let myself in!" she chirped, climbing down the ledge. "Now ask me how I did that!"
"Did Bolin give you spare keys?" he asked, horrified—but still with his stoic face on. "I'll kill him later—"
"No, I flew!" She grabbed the lapels of his coat and shook him with excitement. "I flew, Mako! Well, not really fly, but I airbended my way here!"
He put both of his hands on hers and pushed her away gently. "Korra, that's great, but it's three in the morning and quite frankly, what you've done is illegal. I have half the mind to call the cops—Chief Bei Fong—on you."
"You don't even have half of your mind this early in the morning," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. Mako simply glowered at her sulking figure.
"Fine," he rasped out with a wince. "Congratulations—"
"Yes! I knew you would say that!" She tackled him onto the ground and wrapped her arms around him gaily. "Now, I have something to show you." She stood and pulled him up with her, noting that he wasn't wearing his gloves.
"Now?" he whined, yawning. "Korra, could you at least wait until it's morning? We have training later—"
"No, Mako, we have to see it now," she said impatiently. When they were both on the ledge of the attic, she looked at him expectedly. "Did you know that you could fly with your firebending? Like, fire from your feet, propel yourself, and—"
"Korra, I am not going to do that."
"I wasn't asking you to!" She turned her torso and took in the whole sight of the city again before sighing, "I don't think I'll ever get used to this. Anyway! On the count of three, we're going to jump! One, two…"
Before she could finish counting up to three, she was jerked back to the floor of the attic. She looked up and saw Mako gritting his teeth, obviously appalled at her idea—though she wasn't sure if it was because he thought it was another reckless thing of hers or because he wanted to do the counting.
"What gives?" she shrieked, slapping the hand he wrapped around her wrist away. "Mako, stop freaking out over everything—"
"You haven't mastered airbending yet, Korra! Spirits know that you can't handle lifting two people—"
"It's not a matter of lifting two people! It's controlling the air beneath the two people—"
"You know what I mean!" he snapped, covering his yawn with the hand she struck. "Korra, next time? Give it a month or two, when I'll be confident I wouldn't be falling with you. I mean—" He paused, confused with his own words. After he was sure that he didn't mention anything about his feelings for her, he continued, "Yeah. Come back in two months with your airbending skills and come back in three hours for practice." He walked to the door and pulled it open with a glare. "Good night—morning, whatever. Bye, Avatar Korra."
She pouted—he hated that pout—and stomped angrily, childishly to the doorway. "Bye, you jerk."
He promptly slammed the door to her retreating back. After making sure it was locked, he turned around and stifled another yawn. He was too tired and sleepy to be dealing with Korra so early in the morning. Trudging slowly up the stairs that led to his room, Mako let a small smile flit on his features for a second before succumbing to another yawn.
Spirits, he was tired.
"Okay, I told myself I was going back to the island, but—"
Mako tripped down the stairs as he turned around too quickly to face the source of his deprivation of sleep. When he was sure that it wasn't just a trick played by his mind, he stood up and dusted his coat—he was quite bare underneath, other than a pair of shorts. "Korra, how the hell did you get in this time?"
Korra was still wincing. "Wouldn't that wake up Bolin?"
"He literally sleeps like a rock, that baby," he muttered, clutching onto the sidebar of the stairs. "Korra, again, how—" He paused when he saw that she wasn't wearing those thick fur-lined boots of hers. "Where are your shoes?"
"Somewhere down the corridor. I didn't want to walk all the way down and take a ferry," she replied casually, sitting down on the ledge again.
"That doesn't answer anything," he pointed out, shaking his head in his hand. This girl was definitely crazy.
"It means I firebended my way here, duh. I couldn't wear my boots because I would burn them, so I left them there. I'm not a master airbender, but I'm definitely a master firebender." She raised her brows suggestively and winked at him. "So what do you say, city boy? Bet you've never seen the city like that—"
"No."
"Please?"
"I said no."
"You're no fun."
"I'm just passive."
"Yeah? Well, you put the ass in passive, you…you ass!" She pulled at her hair and groaned—there were only a few times she let him get under her skin and now was one of them. She knew of her disability to think of retorts, and it frustrated her to no end. "You don't trust me, do you?"
He bit his lip—so she was pulling out the trust card now? It was an unstated rule that as teammates, they had to trust each other—him and Bolin with her, especially, because she knew of their past and current struggles. Spirits, he hated her sometimes. He walked slowly and lifted himself onto the edge. He swallowed all his reservations and with a sigh, he asked, "On the count of three?"
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Notes: HAHAHA. Okay, I haven't been writing the best prompts lately, but…eep. I don't know. I suck at writing, especially with characterization. This prompt was suggested by candyskull and because I enjoyed writing this too much, this has a continuation!
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